Change agent

Beginnings

Jishan’s career as an accountant began through the power of suggestion. Growing up in Bangladesh, where accountancy is a highly prized profession, his father planted the idea firmly in his consciousness.

‘He was very determined, because accountancy is a prestigious qualification in Bangladesh,’ Jishan says. His father was so convinced that accountancy was the right career choice for his son that he had a banner made with the slogan ‘I am a chartered accountant’ emblazoned on it. ‘He pasted it up on the wall of my room and would tell me, “Every day, when you wake up, look at it and believe in yourself.”’

After that, Jishan’s choice of ACCA was, he says, a no-brainer, due to the international nature of the qualification. Looking for a higher standard of tuition than he could find locally, he moved to the UK in 2010 to pursue his studies.

The tuition itself was an inspiration, he says. ‘I was intrigued by tutors in the UK: the passion, the energy, and the level of academic and professional qualification. I decided that I would carry this back to prospective students in Bangladesh.’

The value of teaching

After three years in the UK, studying and working in practice in London, he returned home and spent six years furthering his career while also teaching ACCA modules part-time.

The teaching experience helped him refine his professional skills. ‘It really helped me in my own corporate life,’ he says. ‘Getting clarity on any concept and explaining it to a colleague became easy. That was down to the speaking skills I gained from addressing students – and I’m proud of that.’

While in Bangladesh, Jishan spent three years with development organisation BRAC, establishing a quality assurance and improvement programme in line with global standards to enhance and automate the internal audit reporting process and reduce the quarterly reporting cycle from four months to one. He also worked on the audit of the BRAC Afghanistan office, training local audit staff.

Big break

In 2018, he was recognised by the Institute for Internal Auditors as an emerging leader. It was that accolade that ultimately prompted his move to Qatar in 2019 to an audit manager position at Ali Bin Ali. He became acting head of internal audit in 2021, a promotion that was formalised in 2023.

As head of internal audit, he is something of a change agent. With his team and the group audit committee, he works on a group-wide risk assessment at the start of the year, which kicks off the annual audit plan. Over the year, the team carries out audit, consulting and group-level assignments, wherever there is value to add.

IT auditing

Jishan sees IT audit as a key area of focus for the future. That’s where auditors need to gain skills, he says. ‘We’ve invested in audit analytics software, which allows us to analyse data more efficiently. Understanding the workflow, the controls embedded in an application, is changing the game for the audit profession.’

While he guides his team on what to expect when supervising the audit planning stage, he relies on them for the fieldwork. ‘My role is to support them out in the field if they encounter issues or want to consult on anything,’ he says.

Often, his role is to match the right auditor up with the right engagement, based on skills and experience. ‘Sometimes an auditor can be very good in the logistics trade, but may not be as productive when given the luxury business to audit.’

Diversity

For this complex work within an international multicultural context, Jishan has built an audit team with five different nationalities. ‘Diversity is so powerful when it comes to our department,’ he says. ‘I have a different context to my colleague who’s from North Africa, and a team member from the Far East brings a completely different perspective to both of us.’

The wider company looks to the internal audit team for risk management in a broader sense as well. Recently, Jishan led a group-wide cybersecurity awareness and training programme, collaborating with the HR and IT functions, to raise employee awareness and reduce cyber risks. ‘That was very impactful at the group level. We saw massive improvement on the level of awareness of what to do.’

‘Like an army chief’

Jishan finds his role particularly satisfying because it affords him an opportunity to drive positive change and improvements across the group. ‘Internal audit has the freedom or privilege, let’s say, to go beyond day-to-day operations. We are more like a chief or commander seeing an army at the front. We can innovate; we can drive positive changes. I’ve seen improvements whenever we’ve embraced collaboration. More often than not, we see people acting on our recommendations, and that’s what motivates me.’

As he looks to the future, Jishan has entrepreneurial dreams. Having co-founded his own accounting services firm in 2020, he sees himself soon moving away from his current role and leveraging his skills in that new context.

Globalisation and technology enablers like cloud-based accounting solutions and remote working all bring great potential, he says. The skills and organisational perspective he has gained as an internal auditor will doubtless stand him in good stead.